Northeast Crawls Back to Life After Crippling Blizzard

By

Joe Palazzolo and

Dan Strumpf

Updated Feb. 13, 2013 4:40 p.m. ET

Northeastern states continued digging out from a weekend blizzard while utilities restored power to thousands of customers and authorities lifted travel bans on roadways. But forecasts also now are calling for freezing rain and possible flooding on Monday from melting snow across New York's Long Island and in hard-hit Connecticut.

ENLARGE

Airports in the region resumed operations Sunday, and rail service was restored between New York and Boston. Some commuter train service was restored.

The historic storm buried cars and buckled roofs as it dumped up to three feet of snow across New England and parts of New York, killing at least 11 people, including an 11-year-old boy who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning Saturday. He was helping his father shovel snow and took a break to warm up in a car.

Utilities made additional progress bringing more customers back on the grid, but more than 100,000 people were still without power Monday morning, the Department of Energy said, down from the nearly 670,000 customers who were without power during the peak of the weekend's outages.

Massachusetts, which sustained some of the storm's heaviest winds and snowfall, continued to suffer the worst of the outages on Monday. Roughly 112,000 customers—or 4% of the state's customers—were without power in the state. In Rhode Island, 20,000 customers—or 4%—were without power, according to the DOE. Nearly 4,000 remaining outages were in Connecticut and New York.

National Grid said it expects the vast majority of its customers in Rhode Island would have power restored by midnight Tuesday.

Travel bans expired in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but officials on Sunday asked people to stay off the roads to allow plows to reach areas that needed to be cleared.

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Connecticut on Sunday.

Amtrak restored limited service between New York and Boston, but service between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., remained suspended Sunday.

Boston's transit agency resumed limited service on subways and key bus routes at 2 p.m. Sunday, after the system shut down Friday afternoon. Commuter rail service remained suspended Sunday, however, as crews cleared snowoff tracks.

ENLARGE

People navigated up an unplowed street in Hartford, Conn., on Sunday.
Associated Press

As of Sunday morning, the Long Island Rail Road had restored service to most branches but trains weren't running east of Ronkonkoma, Babylon and Huntington. LIRR said to expect delays and cancellations on Monday as crews move snow-removal equipment around the system.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said it plans to resume regularly scheduled service Monday, but also warned customers to "expect significant delays and plan extra time for their Monday morning commute."

Logan International Airport in Boston resumed operations after machines—with 27-foot blades and blowers with wind speeds of 450 miles per hour—cleared runways. The three major airports in the New York City area also resumed flights.

The storm forced more than 5,000 flight cancellations since Thursday, creating a cascade of delays and service interruptions that could last for days, according to Flightaware.com.

Storm Hits Northeast

Maxine Jonas passed a buried car as she walked amid piles of snow on an unplowed street in Boston Sunday. Associated Press

JetBlue Airways, the largest carrier at Logan, canceled 713 flights in the past three days. About 44,000 customers were affected, and about half of them have been accommodated, a JetBlue spokesman said. JetBlue's first inbound flight to Boston landed at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, and the carrier expects to ramp up operations in the afternoon and evening. "We're basically back up and running," he said.

The nor'easter, which meteorologists blamed on the collision of two storm systems, was a potential boon for some, including ski resorts. "The Beast received 12 inches of Grade A powder overnight!" Killington Resort in Vermont said in an email to customers. "What was that? You're not here? Pack that car and tune that gear."

Corrections & Amplifications The snowfall total for Manchester, N.H., from the blizzard is estimated to be 22 to 24 inches. A graphic with an earlier version of this article misstated the total as 8 inches.

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